By OLIVER GOOD

Staff writer

Although “Southern Hospitality” was Marion senior Braden Fahey’s final high school production, it will not be his last play. Nor will he be the last Fahey behind the elaborate light and sound controls in USD 408’s Performing Arts Center.

After working with multiple crewmembers for the past five years, Braden will pass the torch to his younger brother, Taylor, a sophomore, when he goes to college.

“I’ll still help with spring concerts, but they’re just not the same as the plays,” Braden said. “I know I’ll miss it. That’s growing up — that’s what happens.”

Braden recently received a scholarship to Butler Community College in El Dorado largely because of his knowledge and experience with theatrical lights and sound.

Play director Janet Killough said she was grateful for Braden’s contributions to the school plays.

“I am not tech savvy at all, and as far as running the light board I don’t even try,” Killough said. “I really don’t worry when Braden is in charge. When something goes wrong he fixes it.”

Former choral director David Clark recruited Braden when he was in eighth grade. He gave Braden a 4½-hour video tutorial and the user manuals. Braden also often would troubleshoot using online forums.

Braden started with school music programs. When he became a freshman, he began doing lights for school musicals and plays.

Not long after Braden asked Taylor to join him in the booth.

Killough plans to appoint Taylor, an equally tech savvy student who builds computers in his spare time, as the primary “sound and light guy” for school theatre productions.

“Taylor is a people person. He’s really enthusiastic and very polite,” she said. “He’ll be fine. He just needs a little more experience.”

Braden has been there to walk Taylor through the technical aspect of light and sound systems, but also taught his brother patience.

“It can be confusing at times and it takes a fair amount of patience,” Taylor said. “It gets tedious, when you’re on the 34th revision of how people want their mics set up. Sometimes it can drive you crazy.”

Being brothers in what can be a stressful environment, they both admitted to bickering about the nuances of programming sound and light.

“Working together we argue and yell sometimes, but at the end of the day we love each other and we’ve made some pretty funny memories along the way,” Braden said. “It just depends on the day.”

Although both brothers like working with their hands and doing “techy stuff,” sometimes Taylor just can’t understand why Braden programs the systems the way he does.

“It’s not that his way of doing things is wrong, it’s just that I have a certain way things have to make sense in my head,” Taylor said. “The way Braden does things on the sound board doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Usually they are little subtle tiny details that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I ask him, ‘Braden why would you ever do that?’ and I never get an explanation. But his way usually works, and he got a scholarship for it, so he must be doing something right.”

Braden’s scholarship includes all of his books and tuition. He said Butler has the same light board as Marion with a few colligate-level exceptions.

He will have a two-hour block built into his class schedule to help prepare for concerts, theatre, and other productions he will be involved in next year.

“I enjoy being on stage, but I like being behind the scenes better,” Braden said. “There is an element of surprise. You never know what’s going to happen backstage.”

He also has to take a stagecraft class and an acting class.

“I always enjoyed the old productions at the community auditorium,” Braden said. “I remember noticing the spotlights shining over my head while was in the audience and I was just fascinated. I wanted to learn more.”